Plot. Always plot. I tend to brainstorm in terms of WHO's and WHAT's, as in WHO is my main character and WHAT does he/she want? Then WHY does he/she want that and what's in the way of him/her getting it? Then ... as I delve into what makes my character tick, I poke around into the core of the WHY. From there, usually but not always, a hint -- tiny or big, who knows -- about the story's theme will emerge. If it doesn't rear its head willingly, I'll mine for it. And I'll keep mining, off and on, until I find it. While I'll push hard at the possibilities, plausibility and pitfalls of plot, I only nudge at theme. For me, plot seems to fall into the "work to be done" camp while theme is more "to be discovered".

For me, I believe it's plot, but I often know from my concept what theme I am interested in exploring. As I write, it it interesting to see how the theme plays out within the plot and, of course, the characters involved. Focusing on plot and not being too tied to one theme also helps me to allow for room for more than one them to emerge as well. And that's also very interesting.

I'd say plot - but actually, when I think about it, there's quite a bit of theme tangled up in my first idea of what the story is "about". I may not be thinking of it as theme, but it is...

This is what I've found in interviewing writers: for most of them, theme develops as they work on the story, few begin with theme. But I contend a story doesn't one theme, but multiple ones. Generally a central theme, associated with the Protagonist, Plotline and Themeline, all rolled into one, but most subplots often 'carry' a theme, too. In good stories, the sub-themes, as I call them, are in some way associated with the central theme, providing a different reflection of or angle into the central theme. This is one of the reasons why a group of people can see the same movie and come away from it with different interpretations of what it means, each picking up and zeroing in on this theme or that one. Just like life, stories work on multiple levels, and that is often exhibited in a story's themes.

Scott, Thanks so much for your thoughts - I think you clarified for me what I was alluding to in my response - about the theme being large enough for multiple interpretations - perhaps it is in the sub-themes - that tie back into the central theme - that people have different interpretations - that the theme is larger than one emotional truth. Thanks for your thoughts on this. Very insightful!